Charleston, SC

So Samantha, Teresa, and I did a long drive down to Charleston, SC for a week-long vacation with the Paulus clan. Our week was spend in a rental-house in Kiawah Island, which is south and west of Charleston, as opposed to Isle of Palm, which is almost due east of the city. Here's a recap of various portions of the trip which may or may not impact our vacation in August.

Travel/Drive
From Columbus, we took US-33 (2-lane divided for most of the way) to just over the West Virginia border - took about 2.5 hours. We then picked up I-77 and took it due south through West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and to Columbia, SC. Finally, we took I-26 to Charleston. The timer in my Traverse said it took us a little over 10 hours of drive time in the car to get to the Charleston airport, at I-26 and I-526. This does not include stopping for gas, period rest breaks, and other various stops. The traffic was fairly light, and speed limits were 70mph most of the way. We did this drive on Memorial Day weekend, and we did the final leg from Columbia to Charleston around 3 in the afternoon. At no point was I driving under the speed limit due to congestion, and there was only 1 work zone on the entire drive where I had to reduce speed. I believe this was the major area of concern for a vacation spot, so I think we can assume the best for driving in August.

Weather Conditions
Weather for us was high-80s, low-90s, and fairly humid most of the week. If you're on the beach, you won't notice humidity due to the fairly constant breeze, which was very refreshing while not being so strong it blows your umbrella away. Bring the sunscreen, but water temps ought to be extremely pleasant for us in August.

Water Temp
I didn't have a thermometer with me, but the water was never "cold". Most of the time, I would have considered it warm, and at high tide in the early evenings, it was downright hot! Our beach was about 10 yards at high tide, and closer to 50 yards at low tide. Water at low tide was only to my waist when I was roughly 50-yards offshore - probably the reason the water was so warm.

Charleston tour
We did go into Charleston for a day, which took us abut 75 minutes from Kiawah (should be closer to 30 minutes from IOP). We went to the Aquarium and the Market District, both of which were pretty cool. Sam enjoyed the aquarium, as there are some huge fish tanks in there you can just sit and watch all the big fish. The Market District was pretty similar to the markets in NOLA, but interesting to walk through all the same. I'm sure there's lots of other places to go, so feel free to throw out some suggestions.

All in all, it was a much easier drive, and awesome beach for the trip. For those of you flying, the airport will likely be a 30-45 minute drive from IOP. I'm sure you can figure out the distances. I'm looking forward to the Heffernan trip, and I know Sam is too! She wants to play with cousins for a week, not her mom and dad!